. >> al franken spoke shortly after mr. kohl man conceded. what did he say? >> he talked about how he was humbled by the victory and he was looking forward to representing minnesota. he said he is going to except some committee assignments including on the senate health committee insuring that he will play a role in developing a broad health reform package that democrats were trying to push through in july. also the judiciary committee which is hearing the nomination of sonia sotomayor. tomorrow they are having a victory rally in minneapolis. >> there has been talk about more appeals from norm coleman, what did he say? >> he said that he has taken all of the arguments before the court and they have all been rejected and he has no recourse. he is right about that. they went through all of the steps in the process, they looked at a number of the arguments and they formally rejected them. the same thing happened here before the state supreme court including some of his constitutional arguments. he has said that the election officials were using different standar

kohl? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to congratulate chairman leahy and senator sessions as wellsotomayor's confirmation hearings. the proceedings are fair to all members and most importantly, to the nominee. today, i am pleased to cast my vote for judge sotomayor, an individual whose life story is an inspiration to millions of americans. a child of immigrants with modest means, judge sotomayor has risen by dint of exemplary academic accomplishment and hard work now to the cusp of confirmation to our nation's highest court. but judge sotomayor is much more than only a story of accomplishment. she has shown herself to be a judge truly worthy of elevation to the supreme court. both on the bench and before this committee, judge sotomayor has proved that she has the necessary character, competence and integrity to serve on the supreme court. judge sotomayor's distinguished 17 year judicial record demonstrates her commitment to fair and impartial application of the law and respect for the values which make up our const

mr. speaker, lieutenant kohl member breaux and major gruber and their families are dishonored by the assertions that the aircrew were at fault for this fatal crash. that's why i'm grateful that the marine corps has accepted the relevance of these facts and on february 20 of 2009 they included my memo in the personnel files of these two marines. to finally bring this tragedy to a conclusion and to remove the stigma that has been unfairly attached to these two pilots, i have written the navy to ask that they do the same thing as the marine corps did in doing the right thing. by including this memo in the official safety investigation report of this mishap, mr. speaker i ask unanimous consent to submit for the record my letter to rear admiral a.j. johnson dated june 11, 2009, which includes my request and the 17 facts about the crash. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. jones: thank you, sir. as of this afternoon i am very disappointed to say that i still have not received a response to this letter. again, mr. speaker, the letter was dated june 11, 2009. my request to the navy is simpl

mr. altmire for the purpose of a kohl queesm the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. altmire: let me thank chairman edwards for the work he's done this bill which provides for the benefits and assistance that our nation's veterans have clearly earned. it is out of concern for our nation's veterans, specifically veterans in our home region of pennsylvania that i request this kohl queesm pittsburgh's veterans benefits employees are alleged to have manipulated an employee benefits award system by delaying claims to my district to secure additional employee bonuses. i yield to the distinguished gentleman from texas. mr. edwards: i'm familiar with the unfortunate situation that occurred in pittsburgh. there was an a report issued by the office of the inspector -- inspector general, correct? mr. altmire: that's correct. the report issued by the inspector general was insufficient given the gravity of the allegations. it failed to determine the sources of the problem and i would suggest the office of of the inspector general should conduct a second investigation of the emp

kohl. senator hatch? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to commend you and the distinguished ranking member, senator sessions, for conducting a fair and thorough hearing on the nomination of judge sonia sotomayor to replace justice david souter. i was especially pleased when judge sotomayor said the hearing was as gracious and fair as she could have asked for. i came to the confirmation process wanting to vote for a president's nominee and the prospect of a woman of puerto rican heritage serving on the supreme court says a lot about our country, america. i like judge sotomayor and respect her service to her community, the judiciary and the nation. as i expect her to be confirmed, i know that her service will continue for years to come. i spent a great deal of time reading judge sotomayor's speeches, articles and cases, and i participated in all three rounds of questions at the hearing. i genuinely wrestled with this decision. i did not use the political standard taken by senator barack obama in 2005 when he voted against chief justi

kohl. senator hatch. >> that you, mr. chairman. i want to commend you and the distinguished ranking member, senator sessions, for conducting a fair and thorough hearings on the nomination of judge sonia sotomayor to replace justice david souter. i was especially pleased when judge sotomayor at the hearing was as gracious and fair as she could have asked for. i came to the confirmation process wanting to vote for a president's nominee and the prospect of a woman of the puerto rican heritage serving on the supreme court says a lot about our country, america. i like judge sotomayor and respect her to the committee and the nation. and as i expect her to be confirmed i know that her service will continue for years to come. i spent a great deal of time reading judge sotomayor's speeches, articles and cases, and i participated in all three rounds of questions at the hearing. i genuinely wrestled with this decision. i did not use a political standard taken by senator barack obama in 2005 when he voted against chief justice john roberts. he

mr. akaka: as chairman of the government management, a the federal workforce and the district of columbia, i'm proud to join with senators collins, lieberman, voinovich, murkowski, begich, kohl, mikulski, cardin, webb and warner in this bipartisan effort to correct certain inequities in the federal government retirement system. this amendment very familiar to an amendment that was included in the house-passed fy 2010 national defense authorization bill. each of these provisions is much needed and has been thoroughly tee baitd by the appropriate committees in the house and the senate. many of the changes were requested by the administrators of the retirement plans and are strongly supported by many organizations. the list of supporters is too long to read here, but it includes every major federal employee union, postal unions, supervisors, and post masters, the federal law enforcement officers association, and several government managers groups. i spoke in more detail last evening about the substance of the amendment and i call up the amendment at this time. i strongly encourage my colleagues to support this amendment, the federal retirement reform provisions and the bill as

mr. kohl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. kohl: i'd like to talk about something that's happening down at the usda now. secretary vilsack is announcing changes to the dairy product price support program. i'd like to commend him for his diligence and persistence and his willingness to keep pushing on this. wisconsin is home to more dairy farms than any other state in the union. we produce 2.1 billion pounds of milk each month, about half the state's $51 billion agriculture economy is directly tied to dairy. when the dairy sector hurts, wisconsin hurtds. and i will say that the pain in dairy across america is very, very acute right now. from january through angers the price of milk paid to dairy farmers has been about $4.80 per 1-weight below the cost of production. dairy producers have lost $3.9 billion in equity in five months. at risk is the long-term stability of the descrirks the nation's milk production infrastructure, and thousands of rural communities. with senator leahy and a number of our colleagues, we have pushed to